Wildlife and Countryside Act ONLY relates to the sale of animals NOT born in captivity. I do wish people would stop propegating the myth of 2nd, 3rd, 4th generation CB animals, or that the parents must have been CB etc etc.
As for keeping adders, aside from the need for a DWA, I do believe that they are considered one of the most difficult species of snake to maintain in captivity.

The subspecies of grass snake we get in this country is not on the list of species affected by the EPS legislation last year, so there's no change.

Lacerta agilis has always been protected under the Habitats Regulations since they came into force in 1994, so again, no change.

The only changes brought about by the 2007 Habs Regs amendment concerns animals listed on Annex IVa of the Habitats Directive which aren't native to the UK. Before, you coud keep or trade them, now you cannot (Subject to licensing of course).

You're not wrong Ian. If people think certain kingsnakes are a challenge to get feeding, then think again...vipera berus will not have any of it. I did a film once for BBC Bristol and we had to film adders feeding. I was with one other guy, who is very knowledgeable and gets some stick on here, and we had a week to get the shot. On the 6th night of filming we acheived it, feeding on a field vole (after they'd refused all CB domesticated brown mice we'd sourced) and this was filmed in a temporary outdoor enclosure on site in their natural habitat. The case in point being that, even though they were kept outdoors, the stress of being caught put them off feeding and they took 6 days to settle even in their natural environment (bar fencing), let alone being put in an indoor vivarium with laboratory bred white mice (which is in reality how most captive adders will probably be kept). I don't believe for a minute they were all full when we caught them, i think they're just very prone to stress. I also know a very very experienced herpetologist who rescued some young adders late one summer from someone who had captured them for his collection. They would not feed. Even the rescuer could not get them to feed no matter what he did, and sadly they died from starvation (as it was felt that even a release, given their lack of bodyweight, would of been just as detrimental as by this point it was late in the year).

Adders will feed in captivity (as i think has been proven earlier in this thread by someone that keeps them), but it is very very rare for them to settle down, even in conditions that seem ideal. Best left in the wild.

Edit. Additional text.

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Herpetology of Europe.

Thanks for the info mate

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My name's Dave. like everybody else on this forum.

0.0.0 Ophiophagus hannah
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0.0.0 Atheris chlorechis
0.0.0 Atheris hispida
0.0.0 Aspidelaps scutatus
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